Protection of ships against torpedoes



L. E. WHITON. PROTECTION 0F SHIPS AGAINST TORPEDOES- APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9.1917. 1,369,588. Patented Feb. 22, 1.921.

j; 6420x1403 x '2 o o o o o epic) W UNITE LUCIUS E. wmron, or new LoNnon, CONNECTICUT.

PROTECTION on SHIPS AGAINST roarnnons'.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. LUOIUS E. WHITON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at. New London, Connecticut, have invented anew and useful Protection of Ships Against Torpedoes, of which the following is a specification.

' My present invention aims primarily to provide a practical and efiicient protection against attack by torpedoes which can be readily assembled from material usually at hand and which can be readily placed in operative position.

- This is an improvement on the invention of application #170,847 filed May 25th, 191 r r A further object is to provide means of this character which will not materially impede or retard the movements of a ship or interfere with the handling of the ship.

In brief the invention comprises a protecting wall of inherently buoyant material such as wood, which is floated on edge at the side of the ship and is weighted so as to maintain itself in an upright position. This wall is usually towed by the ship at a distance from the side of the ship. A convenient and practical method of weighting the wall is to use ordinary anchor chain which can be suitably attached to the lower edge portion of the wall.

In the accompanying drawings wherein I have illustrated a practical embodiment of the invention Figure 1, is a top plan view and Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing the plication of the invention to the protection of a ship.

Fig. 3, is an enlarged broken view of a section of the protecting wall.

Fig. 4, is an edge view of the same illustrating in dotted lines the lateral movements of the upper flexible sections of the wall.

Fig. 5, is a broken side elevation of a slightly modified form of protecting wall. 7

As appears most clearly in Fig. 2 the wall is preferably made up of a plurality of units orsections 7 arranged in tandem and fieX- ibly connected at their adjoining ends as by means of the connecting loops 8.

These sections are constructed of suitable, available, inherently buoyant material such as wood, flat boards being preferably used for the purpose so as to offer as little resistance as possible to movement through the water and which may be fastened to- Specification of Letters Patent.

gethe'r in any convenient manner as by nailmg or bolting a series of horizontally disposed boards across a series of vertically or diagonally arranged boards.

' The floating sections are weighted sofas to stand upright in the water'as by securing angle irons 9 to the lower edges of the sec- Patented reuse, 1921. I Application filed June 9, 1917. Serial rib/173,693.

tions and suspending anchor chain 10 from said lower edges; A convenient method of suspending the anchor chain is to provide suspending books 11 having eyes 12 through which are passed the bolts 13 which secure the angle irons in place, certain of the links of the anchor chain being engaged over these hooks as indicated in Fig. 4. The angle irons, bolts, hooks and anchor chain are standard articles, readily obtainable and it will be evident that the wall sections may be made up in suitable sizes of any lumber which is available in a given locality so that it is possible to build the structure whenever and wherever the case may require.

The wall or Stockade is usually arranged in a series of overlapping trains as indicated at 7 and 7 in Fig. 1, disposed at some distance from the side of the ship and with a space 14 between the two series of floats to provide a gap or'space for the passage of the surface ware thrown by the bow of the ship.

In the illustration these two wall sections are towed by lines 15, 16 carried by spars 17 outstanding from the bow of the ship, these spars being sultably braced as by means of outrigging 18. This towing arrangement may be duplicated at the stern so as to steady the protecting walls and cause them to follow the shipsmovements when the ship is traveling astern.

In order that the barricade can accommodate itself more or less to the crosscurrents of the surface water, the upper or surface water portions of the protection may be made flexible or yielding in character, as by makingthem in sections 19, hinged at 20 boards of a panel united at the bottom by the angle irons 9 and at the top, by a cross batten 23; The upper edge of the barrier may be notched as indicated at 24 to allow free passage of the surface water.

I claim i 1. Means for protecting a ship from torpedo attack comprising an independently floating wall of inherently buoyant material I floated on edge at the side of a ship and weighted in its lower portions to cause said buoyant wall to stand upright in the water and through the zone of attack by torpedoes, said wall having flexible upper portions yieldable to the movement of the surface water and means for towing said floating wall at the side of a ship.

25 3. Means for protecting a ship fromltorpedo attack comprising; an independently floating wall made up of flexibly united sections of inherently buoyant material floated on edge at the side of a ship and weighted to stand upright in the water and means for towing said upright wall at the side of a shifi v 4:. .eans for protecting ships from attack by torpedoes, comprising an independently floating buoyant wall of wood, weights attached to the lower portions of said wooden wall for floating the same upright in the water and means for towing said wall.

5, Means for protecting ships from attaok by torpedoes, comprising an independently floating wall of inherently buoyant material floated on edge at the side of a ship, weighted at its lower portion to cause the same to stand upright in the water and towing means attached to the lower portion of said wall, the upper portion of said wall having flexible sections yieldable laterally to accommodate themselves to movements of the surface water,

LUCIUS E. WHITON. 

